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  • Hmm-hmm-hmm-hmm-hmm-hmm. Na-na-na-na. Hi. James from engVid. I would like to

  • help you with a problem you might not even know that you have. Do you know

  • what: "voiced" and "voiceless" is? And if you do, do you know how to do the

  • mechanics of it, produce it, or make sure you're producing it? A lot of

  • students have a problem with this. They may understand the basic idea: "voices

  • vibrate", but my lesson today will help you to be able to physically feel it, so

  • that you know what you should do. And we'll go through a practice session,

  • using one of the hardest "voiced" or "voiceless" sounds in English. Cool?

  • Let's go to the board and work it out. Ah, Mister E is being very cool today. I

  • love it. He's gone Shakespearean on to me. "To be or not to bethat is not

  • the question. It is actually: To be or not to be voiced or voiceless". So, what

  • does it mean to be "voiced" or "voiceless"? Now, for some of you,

  • you're like: "What is he talking about?" And sometimes native speakers watch

  • this, so this is for you, native speakers; because you do it all the

  • time, but you don't even know what you're doing. All right? So, if you're

  • learning English, don't feel so bad; not everybody knows everything, including

  • me. So, "voiced". Mister E has given us a special holiday-edition shot here or

  • something, like, this is him when he was a kid. He's beautiful. Hey, man. Look at

  • that, nice bald head and that. He looks really good with his dress shirt.

  • Anyway.

  • So, "voiced". "Voiced" is vibration or vibrates. So, okay, got that. But what's

  • vibrating? Well, actually your vocal cords; it's right in herethese are

  • vibrating. And when it's "voiceless", it's just an air movement. (whistles

  • lightly). A great example of this is the difference between: "p" and "b". When I

  • say: "p" — "p", "p" — it's actually just air going over the chords; nothing

  • really happens. But when I say: "b" — "b" — there's a slight vibration of the

  • vocal cords, and that's the difference between: "p" and "b". All right? Now,

  • today's lesson isn't to say: I'm going to work on this sound and this one. It's

  • to help you with the mechanics. I will give you something specific to work on

  • that will help you that's actually probably... I picked some of the

  • toughest words for non-English speakers to work on, and you'll see them and

  • you'll go: "Oh my god. I hate these ones." I'm gonna give that to you in a

  • second or two. But, quickly, let's go through it. Here's my method to help you

  • with the mechanics. What sound does a bee make? Duh. "Bzz". Yeah, keep going.

  • "Zzz". Now, put your hand here. "Zzz". You'll feel that movement. There you go.

  • That's that vibration I'm talking about. Okay? So, the first thing we want to

  • look at: What sound does a bee make? Silly, I know; but it's something that's

  • practical you can play with and notice this.

  • The second thing I want to do is: Now, put your hand on your throat and say:

  • "A", "a", "a". You can even say: "e", or: "u", or: "o". Vowel sounds basically

  • are "voiced", so it will vibrate the vocal cords. Sorry. So, this way: "o" —

  • you can feel that vibration. And if you do it long enough, you'll know how it

  • feels, and you'll know how to put the voicedthat's on. I told you I'm here

  • to help you. Okay? So... so, you can say that. "A" is good one because it's: "a"

  • it's the first letter in the alphabet, or any other vowel sound. Step three:

  • Start with an "a", and then do the voiceless words, and note the

  • difference. I'll give you an example. If I say: "people", "people" — there's two

  • "p's" there and nothingit's dead. Well, not dead. It's not moving. I'm

  • alive. "People". But if I say: "butterfly", "butter-" — sorry, I should

  • stop there. You'll notice the difference. Note the difference with:

  • "people" — no vibration. Okay? Number four is when I want you to actually do

  • something voiced, like: "butterfly", "butterfly". Note the difference; notice

  • how there's that vibration. And if you do them together: "people, butterfly" —

  • you'll go: "Oh, there's a big difference with how my throat works, or the vocal

  • cords work." Cool? That's a small practice that you can do. Well, actually

  • what I want you to use when we go to the board in a second, and I give you the

  • sound of the day you're going to work with. (laughs evilly) (snaps fingers)

  • Okay. So, I promised to help you with: "voiced" and "voiceless". And just in

  • case, if I wasn't too clear, what I want you... when I said: "note the

  • difference" — I wrote that on the board beforeit's when we do the: "a" —

  • we're comparing the "a", what happens with the "a", herethe vibration,

  • versus the next word we say, and we want to compare the difference. What I'm

  • getting you to do, actually, is to train your brain to recognize the difference.

  • Especially when we start comparing the "voiced" and the "voiceless", you should

  • notice a big difference, and your brain will go: "Got it". And there are two

  • words especially I wrote on the board that students get confused with because

  • they almost look the same; and one is a verb and one is the noun. Noun. And just

  • by spelling, if it wasn't for the extra letter, they could be completely

  • confused, and that's completely understandable. All right? So, let's go

  • to the board, and we're going to work on the famous "th" soundyayfound in

  • so many English words. Okay? So, we talked about "voiced" is vibration. And

  • that's why I put, like: "voicevibrate". Bla. It's that "b" sound.

  • Right? Here are some words that we can start with. And if you notice, I put:

  • beginning, middle, and end. And if you're confused why, I'm just saying the

  • placement of the "th". The vibration will still be there, but it... even

  • though it moves, the vibration will be there. So, you're gonna notice we're

  • using words where it starts at the beginning, words where the "th" is in

  • the centre... and I know there's an "e" here, but it's basically at the end of

  • the word. Okay?

  • Now, what I was explaining to you about: Note the difference or see the

  • differencesthis is the exercise I want you to do. To get some practice,

  • we're doing this. So, let's do it together. Okay? So, this is one of those

  • lessons... no, there's not a test, but you get to practice with me. Yes. I'm in

  • your house, teaching you. We're working together. Ah. Are you excited? I'm

  • excited. Let's do it. Okay, so first, we'll put our hand here, as I said.

  • We'll go: "a". Okay? "a". The first word is: "there". Oh. "A", "there". Oh.

  • Notice how that kind of follows through that: "zzz"? You wouldn't think so, but

  • there it is. Then we go to next one: "a", "then", "a", "then". Now, you're

  • going to notice that soft vibration is falling in your hand, and your brain's

  • going: "I understand". Next one: "a", "weather", "a", "weather". Now, the "w"

  • makes a bit of a difference, because we have to carry through. We're saying a

  • sound, then we have to change it. And that's why I did beginning, middle, and

  • end, so you can notice how it changes. You're going to go: "w", "w", "weath-",

  • and it's "a". Okay? We're good. Now, let's go here: "a", "either", "a",

  • "either". And if you're educated: "a"... Oh, sorry. Now... sorry. The first one's

  • educated. Star means there's two ways of saying this word, but notice that the

  • vibration doesn't change: "a", "either", "a", "either". In fact, that "e" almost

  • pushes into it. Okay? So, you'll hear people say: "either" or "either" — the

  • argument is educated people will say: "either", and a lot of people say:

  • "either". "Either you or me"; "either you or I". And you can almost hear a

  • British accent when they say: "either". Okay? So, something to keep noting...

  • note. It doesn't change its meaning; it just will change... People will change

  • it, depending on the situation they're in; but some people won't because they

  • don't know there's a difference. Next: "a", "breathe", "a", "breathe". Okay?

  • And this is the verb. Woo. Remember I said we're going to come back? When we

  • get down here, you're going to see the noun form and how it changes. And you'll

  • know by doing this. The next one: "a", "bathe", "a", "bathe". Cool? All right.

  • Now that we've practiced the vibration, let's see what it's like when we just

  • have air. And this... what I mean by "air" is: "air" just goes over the vocal

  • cords, but it doesn't make it vibrate. And we're going to do: "think", "thing",

  • "birthday", "healthy", "breath". And, look, even just how I said it, it's

  • different completely; and "bath". Very different. And, once again, we're going

  • to use it at the beginning, the middle, and the end of the word, so we can see

  • how it's changed or note if there's not a change. So: "a", "think". That's odd.

  • "A", "think". It's almost like you just wentflattened; very different from:

  • "there". Even though they seem like similar wordswords that you would use

  • regularlyit's done... said differently. How about this one? "A",

  • "thing", "a", "thing". Next one, this one: "Happy birthday to me", "a",

  • "birthday", "a", "birthday". Okay. How about this one? "A", "healthy", "a",

  • "healthy". Now, I talked about the verb being here and the noun being here. "A",

  • "breath", "a", "breath". And, finally: "bath". Are you ready? So, I should say

  • it like American: "a", "bath", "a", "bath". I would never say that; I would

  • say: "bath". But some of you will go: "What?" If you're in England, looking at

  • this video or Europe, you'll understand what I'm saying. So: "a", "bath", "a",

  • "bath". Okay?

  • Now, I'm going to give you a small, little hint that will help you. It's for

  • "th", so I can't say it's for every other voiced or voiceless pair. But I

  • like to think, here, if you're still having trouble; you're saying: "Well,

  • James, yes, you've helped me. So, now I know. But how do I also...? How can I

  • also do it?" Here's a little thing: When you're using your tongue — "bath" — use

  • your tongue, between the teeth, let the air just pass out. First: "bathe". That

  • vibration you put... so your tongue just touches your teeth. So, that's another

  • little hint I'm giving you. See? Bonus, bonus. When you're doing these ones,

  • think of the air that's just traveling here over it; just let it travel over

  • your tongue. "Bath", "th". That's it. Versus: "bathe". I feel it here — "th" —

  • and I feel it in my teeth. Cool? All right. So, now that we've done that, and

  • we've done an actual practice togethercome back to it; do it time and time

  • again. There are other words that you can just go: Look, now. See? I've done

  • you such a favouryay. You can look here. Now that we've practiced and I've

  • given you the two hintsthe fingers here, and the "th" and the "th" with the

  • tonguenow you can go look on the computer, give me some voiced words with

  • "th". And you know exactly the mechanisms or the mechanics you can do

  • to get the proper sound. All right? Good.

  • I'm gonna give you another pair, but just a small taste. A small, small

  • taste. You know the method that I've given you using the "a", and then the

  • wordyou can now apply this on our bonus section with "p" and "b". "P" and

  • "b" are also voiced and voicelesssimilar ways of speaking. But with: "p",

  • "p", just the "p" sound, you can hear the air explode: "p". With a: "b", "b",

  • "b" — the lips come together, pursing, making more of a vibration. So, you can

  • use with the voiceless... And here's three words you can use in the exact

  • same way we've done this. Okay? So, you can go: "a", "place", "a", "place"; "a",

  • "park", "a", "park"; "a", "put", "a", "put". And you'll notice — "p" — that

  • air blowing outthat "p" — how it just kind of shuts down here. Versus the

  • voiced for the "b": "a", "bring", "a", "bring". And you notice how it

  • continues: "a", "bring"; it keeps going. How about: "boy"? "A", "boy", "a", "boy"

  • feel the vibration? And finally: "a", "boat". "Boss, boss. A plane, a plane."

  • Sorry. You're probably too young to remember "Fantasy Island", so I won't do

  • that to you again. But you watch itthere's a little midget guy. He goes: